Before this season of Survivor: Blood vs. Water began, I tweeted out that my pre-game interview with Aras and Vytas Baskuaskas was the most impressive I had ever done. So in that sense, it is not surprising they both made it to the merge, which happens on tonight’s episode. But when you consider all they have been through to this point — Aras being targeted by former alliance partner Tyson; Vytas being the sole male on the Galang tribe — it was by no means a given they would make it this far. But they did. And now, in an EW.com exclusive, the brothers talk about their journey so far in the game and how they made it to this point. Plus, to spice things up, we have some exclusive photos of the first post-merge challenge for you — photos that appear to be strategically cropped so we do not see who made it back into the game from Redemption Island. (Click through all 4 pages to read the entire Q&A and see all the exclusive photos.)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Vytas, your strategy at Galang seemed to be to let the weak links emerge and do themselves in. Was there ever a consideration towards targeting Tina and Katie as the tribe’s single “loved ones” pair?

VYTAS: No. Even though she was not a part of the guy alliance at the original Tadhana, I had made sure to form a good relationship with Katie. I knew that she was my link into the new Galang because her mom would support her. Once Tina embraced me as a confidant of her daughter, that’s when I was safe. It was the mother-daughter pair that kept me alive on Galang so it would’ve been foolish to target them, especially since I knew the merge was coming and Aras and I would need as many other pairs to align with as possible.